Vizor: Scan → Qualify → Read

I attempted to code and design a tool where people could filter their news feed with speed. That was hard, I called it Vize/Vizor. https://vize.netlify.app/

This is not a coding story though.

Frustrated with news feeds

My general frustration with social media is that is it time-badly-spent. I wanted to make an online place that represented my idea of time-well-spent, specifically, allow me to sift more quickly through the stockpile of posts lined up for me by the algorithm, to find that needle in the haystack.

Conceptualisation

The vision of Vizor was simple, shorten the time it took you to find the content that you wanted at that moment. Whether that moment was transactional or emotive (deeper more meaningful reading experience based on a relationship you value), the Vizor would help you get there quicker.

How it works

The Vizor service would filter through all the queued up posts and allow you to represent that content in the way that YOU wanted to see it.

By author alphabetical — done.

By family connection strength— done.

By language — done.

By topic — done.

By algorithmic suggestion — done.

By chronological post time — done.

By keyword search — done.

Liked most by closest connections — done

By story progress — done

Reflecting our multi-timbral lives

I believe each of these search intents represents an attitude or mode of thinking. These various modes reflect our lives each day, each week, each month, each moon cycle, each yearly flow. Essentially, the algorithm becomes more meaningful, it reflects our multi-timbrel realities.

For example, sometimes family things are more important and we want to cut ALL the other stuff out. Sometimes we are in discovery mode and want to absorb new, wonderful, scary, vibrant perspectives. Sometimes we want to catch-up on things from specific people, eg unfolding news stories or progression in games. Somtimes we want an entertainment mix — some sport, some news, some comedy.

Every single human has a different need, a different search intent multiple times daily. We rarely live in a monotimbral state. Yet here we are constrained by a single form field (Google) or automated list of ‘recommended’ options pushed to us by Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.

We have so much more depth and there is so much more content — more than we can fathom to have this all locked behind an automated platform.

Growth and scale

Eventually, the Vizor would learn from a huge array or presents and offer new notes or search options to users based on what is knows. I can imagine an eco-system of ‘shareable’ Vizors. A marketplace.

There could be a developer community and language community around creating or tweaking vizors. Being able to buy or attach a new Vizor. How much would we be able to learn about each other and how many other types of pieces of content might we be able to enrich ourselves with?

To keep the entire reading experience wrapped behind a shroud of algorithm proprietary code seems a bit limiting. I wish I had the money to make Vizor but I don’t. Maybe someone with more money can.